CN116074886A

CN116074886A - Electronic device and method for wireless communication, computer-readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116074886A
Application number: CN202111298774.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张雪菲; 贺清清; 刘芳昕; 李浩进
Original assignee: Sony Group Corp
Current assignee: Sony Group Corp
Priority date: 2021-11-04
Filing date: 2021-11-04
Publication date: 2023-05-05
Also published as: WO2023078163A1; CN118216203A

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an electronic device, method and computer-readable storage medium for wireless communication, the electronic device comprising: processing circuitry configured to: setting a timer for counting the time when the user equipment accesses to the first cell of the non-terrestrial network, wherein the timing duration of the timer is set based on the estimated service duration of the first cell to the user equipment; and reducing the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result in a period in which the timer has not expired compared with reporting the beam measurement result performed after the timer has expired.

Description

Electronic device and method for wireless communication, computer-readable storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a user equipment energy saving technology in non-terrestrial network communications. And more particularly, to an electronic device and method for wireless communication and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

In 5G Non-terrestrial networks (Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN), satellites have the characteristics of high position, large beam coverage, fast Non-stationary orbiting satellites, etc. These characteristics bring technical challenges to 5G non-ground networks such as large transmission delay, large cell coverage radius, and cell movement.

For NTN near Earth Orbit (LEO), the Round Trip Time (RTT) between the terminal and satellite is about 270.73ms; for NTN geostationary orbit (Geostationary Earth Orbiting, GEO), the RTT between the terminal and satellite is about 12.89ms. In contrast, in terrestrial networks, taking the example of a distance between an NR base station (gNB) and a terminal of 10km, the RTT between the terminal and the base station is only 0.066ms.

In NTN, satellites form multiple beams on the earth, each beam covering an area on the earth, with a beam coverage radius of hundreds to thousands of kilometers.

The speed of the low-orbit satellite is about 7.56km/s, and the moving speed of the User Equipment (UE) is negligible compared with the low-orbit satellite. When the low orbit satellite moves, the beam actually moves over time as well. This means that if the UE receives signals from satellites, the service beam of the UE will change over time.

Because the transmission delay of the NTN is large, the UE has a lot of signaling interaction with the gNB when performing cell switching, and if frequent cell switching is performed, the UE can cause large energy consumption. It is therefore desirable to propose a technique to reduce the power consumption of a UE.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that this summary is not an exhaustive overview of the disclosure. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. Its purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is discussed later.

According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided an electronic device for wireless communication, comprising: processing circuitry configured to: setting a timer for counting the time when the user equipment accesses to the first cell of the non-terrestrial network, wherein the timing duration of the timer is set based on the estimated service duration of the first cell to the user equipment; and reducing the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result in a period in which the timer has not expired compared with reporting the beam measurement result performed after the timer has expired.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a method for wireless communication, comprising: setting a timer for counting the time when the user equipment accesses to the first cell of the non-terrestrial network, wherein the timing duration of the timer is set based on the estimated service duration of the first cell to the user equipment; and reducing the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result in a period in which the timer has not expired compared with reporting the beam measurement result performed after the timer has expired.

According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided an electronic device for wireless communication, comprising: processing circuitry configured to: determining a timing duration of a timer for the user equipment based on an expected service duration of the user equipment by a first cell of a non-terrestrial network to which the user equipment is to be connected; and providing the information of the timing duration to the user equipment so that the user equipment uses the timer to time the time when the user equipment accesses the first cell, wherein compared with the beam measurement result reporting executed by the user equipment after the timer is overtime, the user equipment reduces the number of times of the beam measurement result reporting when the timer is not overtime.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a method for wireless communication, comprising: determining a timing duration of a timer for the user equipment based on an expected service duration of the user equipment by a first cell of a non-terrestrial network to which the user equipment is to be connected; and providing the information of the timing duration to the user equipment so that the user equipment uses the timer to time the time when the user equipment accesses the first cell, wherein compared with the beam measurement result reporting executed by the user equipment after the timer is overtime, the user equipment reduces the number of times of the beam measurement result reporting when the timer is not overtime.

According to other aspects of the present disclosure, there are also provided a computer program code and a computer program product for implementing the above-mentioned method for wireless communication, and a computer readable storage medium having recorded thereon the computer program code for implementing the above-mentioned method for wireless communication.

The electronic equipment and the method according to the embodiment of the application reduce signaling overhead by reducing measurement result reporting in a relatively stable service time after accessing the cell, thereby reducing the energy consumption of the UE.

These and other advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

To further clarify the above and other advantages and features of the present disclosure, a more particular description of the disclosure will be rendered by reference to the appended drawings. The accompanying drawings are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, together with the detailed description below. Elements having the same function and structure are denoted by the same reference numerals. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical examples of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered limiting of its scope. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an electronic device for wireless communications according to one embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 shows one example of a scenario of an NTN network;

fig. 3 shows another example of a scenario of an NTN network;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating an electronic device for wireless communications according to one embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 shows one example of selection of a target cell;

fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the UE approaching the edge of the cell corresponding to beam 5 when the timer expires;

fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a UE approaching the edge of cell 5 when the timer expires;

fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a signaling flow of a cell handover operation according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a beam measurement and information flow of reporting a beam measurement result after a UE is handed over to a target cell;

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram illustrating an electronic device for wireless communications according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart of a method for wireless communication according to one embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 shows a flow chart of a method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure may be applied;

fig. 14 is a block diagram showing a second example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure may be applied;

fig. 15 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smart phone to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied;

fig. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied; and

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a general-purpose personal computer in which methods and/or apparatus and/or systems according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the interest of clarity and conciseness, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with system-and business-related constraints, and that these constraints will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

It is also noted herein that, in order to avoid obscuring the disclosure with unnecessary details, only the device structures and/or processing steps closely related to the solution according to the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, while other details not greatly related to the present disclosure are omitted.

< first embodiment >

As described above, due to the large transmission delay of NTN, when the UE performs cell handover or when the UE performs an operation related to cell handover, there is a lot of signaling interaction with the gNB, which causes a large energy consumption. Since the UE movement speed is almost negligible compared to the satellite and the movement of the satellite is regular, measurement reporting of some UEs can be reduced accordingly, thereby reducing power consumption. The present embodiment provides an electronic device 100 for reducing power consumption of a UE.

Fig. 1 shows a functional block diagram of an electronic device 100, the electronic device 100 comprising: a setting unit 101 configured to set a timer for counting a time from when the UE accesses the first cell of the NTN, and a timing duration of the timer is set based on an estimated service duration of the first cell to the UE; and a control unit 102 configured to reduce the number of beam measurement reports during a timer non-timeout period compared to beam measurement reports performed after the timer has timed out.

The setting unit 101 and the control unit 102 may be implemented by one or more processing circuits, which may be implemented as a chip, a processor, for example. Also, it should be understood that each functional unit in the electronic device shown in fig. 1 is merely a logic module divided according to the specific functions it implements, and is not intended to limit the specific implementation.

The electronic device 100 may be provided at the UE side or communicatively connected to the UE, for example. Here, it should also be noted that the electronic device 100 may be implemented at a chip level or may also be implemented at a device level. For example, the electronic device 100 may operate as the UE itself, and may also include external devices such as a memory, transceiver (not shown), and the like. The memory may be used for storing programs and related data information that the user equipment needs to perform to implement various functions. The transceiver may include one or more communication interfaces to support communication with different devices (e.g., base stations, other user equipment, etc.), the implementation of the transceiver is not particularly limited herein.

Moreover, it should be noted that in this application, the terms first, second, etc. are used for distinguishing between similar and not necessarily for describing a sequential or otherwise indicated.

For ease of understanding, fig. 2 and 3 show examples of scenarios of NTN networks. In fig. 2, one beam corresponds to (is mapped to) one cell; in fig. 3, a plurality of beams corresponds to (is mapped to) one cell. The scheme of the present embodiment can be applied in both of these scenarios.

In general, the movement speed of the UE is negligible with respect to the satellite, and the movement direction and movement speed of the satellite are according to a predetermined rule, and the satellite moves in the left direction as illustrated in fig. 2 and 3. Thus, starting from the UE in the figure accessing the first cell (e.g., denoted as beam 5 in fig. 2, denoted as cell 5 in fig. 3), over time the relative position of the UE in the first cell may change until the UE is out of coverage of the first cell, which is no longer able to serve the UE.

During the time that the UE is in the coverage of the first cell, the communication quality is likely to meet the UE's needs, so the UE does not have to measure the beam frequently and/or report the beam measurement results to the base station. Accordingly, during this time, the control unit 102 may reduce the number of times that beam measurements are reported. Also, the control unit 102 may also reduce the number of beam measurements.

The timer in this embodiment is used to time the above time, and by using the timer, the approximate location of the UE may be estimated, so that when the UE moves out of the coverage area of the first cell, the control unit 102 may recover the number of beam measurements and/or the number of reporting the beam measurements, so as to reliably perform the cell handover operation.

Thus, the timing duration of the timer may be set based on the expected service duration of the first cell to the UE. The estimated service duration may be determined by the base station based on the UE's location information, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and velocity, beam elevation, and cell coverage area. As one example, information of the timing duration of the timer may be obtained from the base station. Accordingly, as shown in fig. 4, the electronic device 100 may further comprise a communication unit 103 configured to receive a radio resource control reconfiguration (RRC Reconfiguration) message from the base station, the RRC Reconfiguration message comprising information of the timing duration of the timer. The base station here is a base station corresponding to a serving cell in which the UE is located before switching to the first cell. In case there is no information of the timing duration of the timer in the RRC Reconfiguration message, e.g. the corresponding field is empty, the setting unit 101 deactivates the timer. In other words, the UE performs normal beam measurement and reporting operations.

The control unit 102 reduces the number of beam measurement reports during the timer non-timeout period compared to beam measurement reports performed after the timer has timed out. For example, the control unit 102 may not perform beam measurement reporting during the timer not expired. Furthermore, the control unit 102 may also reduce the number of beam measurements during the timer non-timeout period compared to beam measurements performed after the timer has timed out. Of course, in order to minimize the power consumption, the control unit 102 may not perform beam measurement during the timer timeout period.

On the other hand, during the timer not timeout, the control unit 102 may measure only one or more beams corresponding to the serving cell, i.e., the first cell. Taking fig. 2 as an example, the UE may only measure beam 5 during the timer has not expired. Taking fig. 3 as an example, the UE may only measure the multiple beams corresponding to cell 5 during the timer has not expired. This is because the UE does not need to perform cell handover during the timer not expired, and thus does not need to measure all beams, but only needs to monitor the beam quality of the current serving cell.

During the timer not expired, if the measured beam quality of the first cell is below a predetermined threshold, e.g. the beam quality has not been able to meet the UE's requirements, the control unit 102 interrupts the timer and triggers the cell handover procedure. For example, the UE performs measurements on all beams and reports the beam measurements to the base station, which performs cell handover based on the beam measurements.

In addition, when the timer expires, the control unit 102 also performs a cell switching operation. In order to switch to a cell with better communication quality, the UE needs to measure the beam and report the beam measurement result to the base station.

As an example, the UE locates its own position after the timer expires, and the communication unit 103 may also include the UE's position information in the beam measurement report to provide to the base station. Accordingly, the base station may estimate an estimated service duration for which the corresponding cell can provide service for the UE based on the location information of the UE, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and speed, beam elevation, cell coverage area, and the like. For example, in determining a target cell to which the UE is to be handed over, the base station may select a cell that enables the UE to operate normally and provides the longest expected service duration among candidate cells to which the UE performs beam measurement. The base station then indicates the selected target cell to the UE. The control unit 102 may switch to the target cell based on an indication from the base station.

Fig. 5 shows an example of selection of a target cell. Wherein, the communication quality of the cell 3 and the cell 4 are found to meet the condition of making the UE work normally through measurement. For the UE, the base station calculates the expected service duration for cell 3 to be shorter than the expected service duration for cell 4. Thus, in cell handover, the base station selects cell 4 as the target cell and instructs the UE to handover to cell 4.

In this way, by preferentially switching to the cell with longer service time, frequent cell switching of the UE can be reduced, thereby reducing the energy consumption of the UE.

In addition, in order to further reduce the power consumption of the UE, the control unit 102 may be further configured not to measure the beam corresponding to the cell through which the UE has passed when performing the cell handover operation. This is because the direction and speed of movement of the satellites, the ephemeris information of the satellites, and the location information of the UE when performing a cell handover are all known, it is determinable which cells 'coverage have been passed by the UE (or which cells' coverage the UE has passed through), and those cells that have passed through the UE will not immediately serve the UE in the following, so the UE may not measure its beam, thereby reducing the power consumption caused by the measurement and reporting.

Still taking fig. 2 as an example, where one beam is mapped to one cell, fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the UE approaching the edge of the cell corresponding to beam 5 when the timer expires. At this time, the UE performs a cell handover operation. Depending on the direction of movement of the satellite, the UE has passed through the cells corresponding to beam 7 and beam 8, which will no longer serve them, and the UE may not make measurements for beam 7 and beam 8 when performing a cell switching operation. Similarly, taking fig. 3 as an example, a plurality of beams are mapped to one cell, and fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a UE approaching the edge of the cell 5 when the timer expires. Depending on the direction of movement of the satellites, the UE has passed through cell 7 and cell 8, which will no longer serve them, and the UE may not measure the beams corresponding to cell 7 and cell 8 when performing a cell handover operation.

As described above, when performing cell switching, the communication unit 103 can also acquire information of the timing duration of the timer via the RRC Reconfiguration message. Here, the timing duration of the timer may be an estimated service duration of the target cell to which the UE is to be handed over, or a value calculated based on the estimated service duration, for example, a certain margin may be considered. After cell switching, a timer is started, and the UE reduces the number of beam measurements and/or beam measurement reports.

For ease of understanding, fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a signaling flow of a cell handover operation according to an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that this signaling flow is merely exemplary and not limiting.

Assume that the UE is in the cell 5 corresponding to the beam in the scenario shown in fig. 2, and over time the timer expires and a measurement event for a cell handover operation is triggered. After measuring all beams or a specific beam (e.g. removing the beam corresponding to the cell that has passed), the UE sends a measurement report to the source gNB (the current serving cell, i.e. the base station corresponding to cell 5), which may include, for example, the location information of the UE. The source gNB makes a decision based on the received measurement reports and the estimated service durations of the respective cells, determines the target cell to which the UE is to be handed over, where the source gNB may determine the estimated service durations of the respective cells based on the location information of the UE, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and speed, beam elevation, cell coverage area, etc., and the source gNB may determine the cell of the measured candidate cells that is capable of operating the UE normally and providing the longest estimated service duration as the target cell. Next, the source gNB transmits a handover request to a determined gNB (target gNB) of the target cell, the target gNB performs admission control and transmits a handover request acknowledgement to the source gNB. The source gNB sends RRC Reconfiguration a message to the UE including information of the timing duration of the timer, e.g., the timing duration of the timer may be the predicted serving duration of the target cell. Next, the UE performs a random access procedure to the target gNB, specifically, the UE transmits a pilot to the target gNB, receives a random access response from the target gNB, and transmits a RRC ReconfigurationComplete message to the gNB. In addition, the UE also starts a timer to count the time of the UE accessing the target cell. It should be noted that although in fig. 8 the timer start is placed after the transmission of the RRC ReconfigurationComplete message, this is not limiting, e.g. the timer may be started immediately after the RRC Reconfiguration message is received.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a beam measurement and information flow of beam measurement result reporting of a UE after handover to a target cell. Wherein the parts repeated with fig. 8 are not shown and described in detail. In fig. 9, after the cell handover is completed and the timer is started, the UE may measure only the beam corresponding to the current serving cell. Alternatively, when the timer does not expire, the UE may not report the measurement result to the gNB, or reduce the number of reports compared to normal. In addition, the UE may also reduce the number of measurements or even not make beam measurements. After the timer in fig. 9 expires, the cell handover procedure of fig. 8 will be repeatedly performed, and will not be repeated here.

In summary, the electronic device 100 according to the present embodiment reduces the signaling overhead by reducing the beam measurement and/or the beam measurement result reporting in a relatively stable service time after accessing the cell, thereby reducing the energy consumption of the UE. In addition, the electronic device 100 according to the present embodiment may avoid frequent cell switching by making the UE access preferentially to the cell with the long service duration, so as to further reduce the energy consumption of the UE.

< second embodiment >

Fig. 10 shows a functional block diagram of an electronic device 200 for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application, the electronic device 200 comprising: a determining unit 201 configured to determine a timing duration of a timer for the UE based on an estimated service duration of the UE by a first cell of the NTN network to which the UE is to access; and a communication unit 202 configured to provide the information of the timing duration to the UE, so that the UE uses the timer to time a time from when the UE accesses the first cell, where the UE reduces the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result when the timer has not expired compared to reporting the beam measurement result performed by the UE when the timer has expired.

The determining unit 201 and the communication unit 202 may be implemented by one or more processing circuits, which may be implemented as a chip, a processor, for example. Also, it should be understood that each functional unit in the electronic device shown in fig. 10 is merely a logic module divided according to the specific function it implements, and is not intended to limit the specific implementation.

The electronic device 200 may be provided on the base station side or may be communicatively connected to the base station, for example. The base station described in the present application may also be a transceiver Point (Transmit Receive Point, TRP) or an Access Point (AP). Here, it should also be noted that the electronic device 200 may be implemented at a chip level or may also be implemented at a device level. For example, the electronic device 200 may operate as a base station itself, and may also include external devices such as memory, transceivers (not shown), and so forth. The memory may be used to store programs and related data information that the base station needs to perform to implement various functions. The transceiver may include one or more communication interfaces to support communication with different devices (e.g., UEs, other base stations, etc.), the implementation of the transceiver is not particularly limited herein.

The first cell here may be a target cell to which the UE is to be handed over when performing cell handover. The timer is used for timing the time when the UE is accessed into the first cell, and in order to reduce the energy consumption, the UE can reduce the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result or does not execute the reporting of the beam measurement result when the timer is not overtime; the UE may also reduce the number of beam measurements or not perform beam measurements; the UE may also measure only one or more beams corresponding to the first cell. When the timer expires, for example, indicating that the UE has come to the edge of the first cell, the UE triggers a cell handover operation to switch to another cell, at which time the UE performs a normal number of beam measurement reporting. The relevant operations and details have been given in the first embodiment and are not repeated here.

For example, the communication unit 202 may include information of the timing duration in a RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE. In the case where the information of the timing duration is not included in the RRC Reconfiguration message, the communication unit 202 indicates to the UE to deactivate the timer. For example, if the field in the RRC Reconfiguration message indicating the timing duration is empty, the representative base station instructs the UE to deactivate the timer, i.e. to perform normal beam measurements and/or beam measurement result reporting after accessing the first cell.

In, for example, a cell handover procedure before the determining unit 201 determines that the UE is to access the first cell, the UE needs to report the beam measurement result to the base station. In other words, the communication unit 202 is further configured to obtain beam measurements of the UE from the UE. The beam measurement result may include, for example, location information of the UE.

The determining unit 201 may determine a service duration in which each candidate cell can provide service to the user equipment based on the location information of the UE, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and speed, beam elevation, and cell coverage area. The determining unit 201 determines that the user equipment is to be handed over to the first cell based on the acquired beam measurement results and the determined estimated service duration of each candidate cell. Illustratively, the first cell is the cell of the candidate cells that enables the UE to function properly and provide the longest expected service duration.

Further, the determining unit 201 may be further configured to determine a cell through which the UE has passed according to a moving direction of the satellite, and to configure the UE not to measure a beam corresponding to the cell through which the UE has passed. In this way, the energy consumption of the UE may be reduced by reducing unnecessary measurements and measurement result reporting.

The relevant information flow may be referred to fig. 8 and 9 and the related description in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

In summary, the electronic device 200 according to the present embodiment reduces the signaling overhead by reducing the beam measurement and/or the beam measurement result reporting in a relatively stable service time after accessing the cell, thereby reducing the energy consumption of the UE. In addition, the electronic device 200 according to the present embodiment may avoid frequent cell switching by making the UE access preferentially to the cell with the long service duration, so as to further reduce the energy consumption of the UE.

< third embodiment >

In describing the electronic device for wireless communication in the above embodiments, it is apparent that some processes or methods are also disclosed. Hereinafter, an outline of these methods is given without repeating some of the details that have been discussed above, but it should be noted that although these methods are disclosed in the course of describing an electronic device for wireless communication, these methods do not necessarily employ or are not necessarily performed by those components described. For example, embodiments of an electronic device for wireless communications may be implemented in part or in whole using hardware and/or firmware, while the methods for wireless communications discussed below may be implemented entirely by computer-executable programs, although such methods may also employ hardware and/or firmware of an electronic device for wireless communications.

Fig. 11 shows a flow chart of a method for wireless communication according to one embodiment of the present application, the method comprising: setting a timer (S12) for counting a time from when the UE accesses the first cell of the NTN, and a timing duration of the timer being set based on an estimated service duration of the first cell to the UE; and reducing the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result during the timer non-timeout period compared with reporting the beam measurement result performed after the timer timeout (S13). The method may be performed, for example, at the UE side.

For example, in step S13, beam measurement report may not be performed during the timer non-timeout period. In addition, in step S13, the number of beam measurements may be reduced during the timer non-timeout period as compared with the beam measurements performed after the timer has timed out. On the other hand, only the beam or beams corresponding to the first cell may be measured during the timer not timeout. For example, when the measured beam quality of the first cell is below a predetermined threshold, the timer may be stopped and a cell handover procedure triggered.

As shown in the dashed box in fig. 11, the above method may further include step S11: a RRC Reconfiguration message is received from the base station, the RRC Reconfiguration message including information of the timing duration of the timer. In the case where there is no information in the RRC Reconfiguration message of the timing duration of the timer, the timer may be disabled.

As shown in another dashed box in fig. 11, the above method may further include step S14: and executing the cell switching operation after the timer is overtime. For example, the location information of the UE may be included in the beam measurement report to provide to the base station of the first cell such that the base station of the first cell determines the expected service time for each candidate cell based at least on the location information of the UE, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and velocity, beam elevation and cell coverage area. And, the base station of the first cell determines a target cell based on the beam measurement result of the UE and the determined estimated service time of each candidate cell, for example, the target cell is a cell which can make the UE work normally and provide the longest estimated service duration among the candidate cells measured by the UE. The UE switches to the target cell based on an indication about the target cell from the base station of the first cell.

For example, when performing the above cell handover operation, the beam corresponding to the cell through which the UE has passed may not be measured, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the UE.

Fig. 12 shows a flow chart of a method for wireless communication according to another embodiment of the present application, the method comprising: determining a timing duration of a timer for the UE based on an expected service duration of the UE by a first cell of a non-terrestrial network to which the UE is to access (S22); and providing information of the timing duration to the UE (S23) so that the UE uses the timer to time a time from when the UE accesses the first cell, wherein the UE reduces the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result when the timer has not expired compared with reporting the beam measurement result performed by the UE after the timer has expired. The method may be performed, for example, at the base station side.

For example, information of the timing duration may be included in the RRC Reconfiguration message to be provided to the UE. The UE deactivation timer may also be indicated by excluding the information of the timing duration in the RRC Reconfiguration message.

As shown in the dashed box in fig. 12, the above method may further include step S21: and acquiring a beam measurement result of the UE, and determining that the UE is to be switched to the first cell based on the beam measurement result and the determined estimated service duration of each candidate cell. That is, in the cell handover procedure, the base station determines a target cell (i.e., a first cell) to be handed over to based not only on the beam measurement result of the UE but also on the estimated service duration of each candidate cell. For example, the first cell is a cell of the candidate cells that enables the UE to function normally and provide the longest expected service duration.

For example, the estimated service duration for which each candidate cell can serve the UE may be determined based on the location information of the UE, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and speed, beam elevation, and cell coverage area. Wherein the location information of the UE may be acquired via a beam measurement report of the UE.

In addition, the cell through which the UE has passed can be determined according to the moving direction of the satellite, and the UE is configured not to measure the beam corresponding to the cell through which the UE has passed, so that the energy consumption caused by beam measurement is further reduced.

Note that details of the above-described method have been described in detail in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and are not repeated here.

The techniques of the present disclosure can be applied to various products.

The electronic device 100 may be implemented as various user devices. The user equipment may be implemented as a mobile terminal (such as a smart phone, a tablet Personal Computer (PC), a notebook PC, a portable game terminal, a portable/dongle type mobile router, and a digital camera device) or an in-vehicle terminal (such as a car navigation device). User equipment may also be implemented as terminals performing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also referred to as Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminals). Further, the user equipment may be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module including a single die) mounted on each of the above terminals.

For example, the electronic device 200 may be implemented as various base stations. A base station may be implemented as any type of evolved node B (eNB) or gNB (5G base station). enbs include, for example, macro enbs and small enbs. The small enbs may be enbs that cover cells smaller than the macro cell, such as pico enbs, micro enbs, and home (femto) enbs. A similar situation can also be used for the gNB. Instead, the base station may be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB and a Base Transceiver Station (BTS). The base station may include: a main body (also referred to as a base station apparatus) configured to control wireless communication; and one or more Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) disposed at a different location than the main body. In addition, various types of user equipment may operate as a base station by temporarily or semi-permanently performing base station functions.

[ application example about base station ]

(first application example)

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing a first example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure may be applied. Note that the following description takes eNB as an example, but is equally applicable to the gNB. The eNB 800 includes one or more antennas 810 and a base station device 820. The base station apparatus 820 and each antenna 810 may be connected to each other via an RF cable.

Each of the antennas 810 includes a single or multiple antenna elements, such as multiple antenna elements included in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna, and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals by the base station device 820. As shown in fig. 13, the eNB 800 may include multiple antennas 810. For example, the plurality of antennas 810 may be compatible with a plurality of frequency bands used by the eNB 800. Although fig. 13 shows an example in which the eNB 800 includes multiple antennas 810, the eNB 800 may also include a single antenna 810.

The base station apparatus 820 includes a controller 821, a memory 822, a network interface 823, and a wireless communication interface 825.

The controller 821 may be, for example, a CPU or DSP, and operates various functions of higher layers of the base station apparatus 820. For example, the controller 821 generates data packets from data in signals processed by the wireless communication interface 825 and delivers the generated packets via the network interface 823. The controller 821 may bundle data from a plurality of baseband processors to generate a bundle packet and transfer the generated bundle packet. The controller 821 may have a logic function to perform control as follows: such as radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, admission control and scheduling. The control may be performed in conjunction with a nearby eNB or core network node. The memory 822 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 821 and various types of control data (such as a terminal list, transmission power data, and scheduling data).

The network interface 823 is a communication interface for connecting the base station device 820 to the core network 824. The controller 821 may communicate with the core network node or another eNB via the network interface 823. In this case, the eNB 800 and the core network node or other enbs may be connected to each other through logical interfaces such as S1 interface and X2 interface. The network interface 823 may also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for a wireless backhaul. If the network interface 823 is a wireless communication interface, the network interface 823 may use a higher frequency band for wireless communication than the frequency band used by the wireless communication interface 825.

The wireless communication interface 825 supports any cellular communication schemes, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-advanced, and provides wireless connectivity to terminals located in a cell of the eNB 800 via the antenna 810. The wireless communication interface 825 may generally include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 826 and RF circuitry 827. The BB processor 826 may perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing of layers such as L1, medium Access Control (MAC), radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP). Instead of the controller 821, the bb processor 826 may have some or all of the above-described logic functions. The BB processor 826 may be a memory storing a communication control program, or a module including a processor configured to execute a program and associated circuits. The update procedure may cause the functionality of the BB processor 826 to change. The module may be a card or blade that is inserted into a slot of the base station apparatus 820. Alternatively, the module may be a chip mounted on a card or blade. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 827 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives a wireless signal via the antenna 810.

As shown in fig. 13, the wireless communication interface 825 may include a plurality of BB processors 826. For example, the plurality of BB processors 826 may be compatible with a plurality of frequency bands used by the eNB 800. As shown in fig. 13, the wireless communication interface 825 may include a plurality of RF circuits 827. For example, the plurality of RF circuits 827 may be compatible with a plurality of antenna elements. Although fig. 13 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 825 includes a plurality of BB processors 826 and a plurality of RF circuits 827, the wireless communication interface 825 may also include a single BB processor 826 or a single RF circuit 827.

In the eNB 800 shown in fig. 13, the communication unit 202, transceiver of the electronic device 200 may be implemented by a wireless communication interface 825. At least a portion of the functions may also be implemented by the controller 821. For example, the controller 821 may set a timer for the UE by performing functions of the determining unit 201 and the communication unit 202, so that the UE reduces the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result during a period in which the timer does not expire, reducing the power consumption of the UE.

(second application example)

Fig. 14 is a block diagram showing a second example of a schematic configuration of an eNB or a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure may be applied. Note that the following description is similarly given by way of example to the eNB, but is equally applicable to the gNB. The eNB 830 includes one or more antennas 840, a base station apparatus 850, and an RRH 860. The RRH 860 and each antenna 840 may be connected to each other via RF cables. Base station apparatus 850 and RRH 860 may be connected to each other via high-speed lines, such as fiber optic cables.

Each of the antennas 840 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for the RRH 860 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in fig. 14, the eNB830 may include multiple antennas 840. For example, multiple antennas 840 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by eNB 830. Although fig. 14 shows an example in which the eNB830 includes multiple antennas 840, the eNB830 may also include a single antenna 840.

Base station apparatus 850 includes a controller 851, memory 852, a network interface 853, a wireless communication interface 855, and a connection interface 857. The controller 851, memory 852, and network interface 853 are the same as the controller 821, memory 822, and network interface 823 described with reference to fig. 13.

Wireless communication interface 855 supports any cellular communication schemes (such as LTE and LTE-advanced) and provides wireless communication via RRH 860 and antenna 840 to terminals located in the sector corresponding to RRH 860. The wireless communication interface 855 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 856. The BB processor 856 is identical to the BB processor 826 described with reference to fig. 13, except that the BB processor 856 is connected to the RF circuit 864 of the RRH 860 via connection interface 857. As shown in fig. 14, the wireless communication interface 855 may include a plurality of BB processors 856. For example, the plurality of BB processors 856 may be compatible with the plurality of frequency bands used by the eNB 830. Although fig. 14 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 855 includes a plurality of BB processors 856, the wireless communication interface 855 may also include a single BB processor 856.

Connection interface 857 is an interface for connecting base station apparatus 850 (wireless communication interface 855) to RRH 860. Connection interface 857 may also be a communication module for connecting base station apparatus 850 (wireless communication interface 855) to communication in the above-described high-speed line of RRH 860.

RRH860 includes connection interface 861 and wireless communication interface 863.

Connection interface 861 is an interface for connecting RRH860 (wireless communication interface 863) to base station apparatus 850. The connection interface 861 may also be a communication module for communication in the high-speed line described above.

Wireless communication interface 863 transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 840. Wireless communication interface 863 may generally include, for example, RF circuitry 864. The RF circuit 864 may include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 840. As shown in fig. 14, wireless communication interface 863 may include a plurality of RF circuits 864. For example, multiple RF circuits 864 may support multiple antenna elements. Although fig. 14 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 863 includes a plurality of RF circuits 864, the wireless communication interface 863 may also include a single RF circuit 864.

In the eNB 830 shown in fig. 14, the communication unit 202, transceiver, and/or the electronic device 200 may be implemented by a wireless communication interface 855 and/or a wireless communication interface 863. At least a portion of the functionality may also be implemented by the controller 851. For example, the controller 851 may set a timer for the UE by performing the functions of the determining unit 201 and the communication unit 202, so that the UE reduces the number of times of reporting the beam measurement result during the timer has not expired, reducing the power consumption of the UE.

[ application example with respect to user Equipment ]

(first application example)

Fig. 15 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smart phone 900 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The smartphone 900 includes a processor 901, a memory 902, a storage device 903, an external connection interface 904, an imaging device 906, a sensor 907, a microphone 908, an input device 909, a display device 910, a speaker 911, a wireless communication interface 912, one or more antenna switches 915, one or more antennas 916, a bus 917, a battery 918, and an auxiliary controller 919.

The processor 901 may be, for example, a CPU or a system on a chip (SoC) and controls functions of an application layer and additional layers of the smartphone 900. The memory 902 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 901. The storage 903 may include storage media such as semiconductor memory and hard disk. The external connection interface 904 is an interface for connecting external devices such as a memory card and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device to the smart phone 900.

The image pickup device 906 includes an image sensor such as a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) and a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), and generates a captured image. The sensor 907 may include a set of sensors such as a measurement sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an acceleration sensor. Microphone 908 converts sound input to smartphone 900 into an audio signal. The input device 909 includes, for example, a touch sensor, a keypad, a keyboard, buttons, or switches configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 910, and receives an operation or information input from a user. The display device 910 includes a screen such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display, and displays an output image of the smart phone 900. The speaker 911 converts audio signals output from the smart phone 900 into sound.

The wireless communication interface 912 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 912 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 913 and RF circuitry 914. The BB processor 913 can perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 914 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives a wireless signal via the antenna 916. Note that although the figure shows a case where one RF link is connected to one antenna, this is only illustrative, and includes a case where one RF link is connected to a plurality of antennas through a plurality of phase shifters. The wireless communication interface 912 may be one chip module on which the BB processor 913 and the RF circuit 914 are integrated. As shown in fig. 15, the wireless communication interface 912 may include a plurality of BB processors 913 and a plurality of RF circuits 914. Although fig. 15 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 912 includes a plurality of BB processors 913 and a plurality of RF circuits 914, the wireless communication interface 912 may also include a single BB processor 913 or a single RF circuit 914.

Further, the wireless communication interface 912 may support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near-field communication scheme, and a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) scheme, in addition to the cellular communication scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 912 may include a BB processor 913 and an RF circuit 914 for each wireless communication scheme.

Each of the antenna switches 915 switches a connection destination of the antenna 916 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 912 (e.g., circuits for different wireless communication schemes).

Each of the antennas 916 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for the wireless communication interface 912 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in fig. 15, the smart phone 900 may include a plurality of antennas 916. Although fig. 15 shows an example in which the smart phone 900 includes multiple antennas 916, the smart phone 900 may also include a single antenna 916.

Further, the smart phone 900 may include an antenna 916 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 915 may be omitted from the configuration of the smart phone 900.

The bus 917 connects the processor 901, the memory 902, the storage device 903, the external connection interface 904, the image pickup device 906, the sensor 907, the microphone 908, the input device 909, the display device 910, the speaker 911, the wireless communication interface 912, and the auxiliary controller 919 to each other. The battery 918 provides power to the various blocks of the smartphone 900 shown in fig. 15 via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dashed line in the figure. The secondary controller 919 operates minimal essential functions of the smart phone 900, for example, in a sleep mode.

In the smart phone 900 shown in fig. 15, the communication unit 103 and the transceiver of the electronic device 100 may be implemented by a wireless communication interface 912. At least a portion of the functionality may also be implemented by the processor 901 or the secondary controller 919. For example, the processor 901 or the auxiliary controller 919 may set a timer by performing functions of the setting unit 101, the control unit 102, and the communication unit 103, so as to reduce the number of times the UE performs reporting of the beam measurement result when the timer does not timeout, and reduce the power consumption of the UE.

(second application example)

Fig. 16 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device 920 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The car navigation device 920 includes a processor 921, a memory 922, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module 924, a sensor 925, a data interface 926, a content player 927, a storage medium interface 928, an input device 929, a display device 930, a speaker 931, a wireless communication interface 933, one or more antenna switches 936, one or more antennas 937, and a battery 938.

The processor 921 may be, for example, a CPU or SoC, and controls the navigation function and additional functions of the car navigation device 920. The memory 922 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 921.

The GPS module 924 uses GPS signals received from GPS satellites to measure the location (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the car navigation device 920. The sensor 925 may include a set of sensors such as a gyroscopic sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor. The data interface 926 is connected to, for example, an in-vehicle network 941 via a terminal not shown, and acquires data generated by the vehicle (such as vehicle speed data).

The content player 927 reproduces content stored in a storage medium (such as CD and DVD) inserted into the storage medium interface 928. The input device 929 includes, for example, a touch sensor, a button, or a switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 930, and receives an operation or information input from a user. The display device 930 includes a screen such as an LCD or OLED display, and displays images of navigation functions or reproduced content. The speaker 931 outputs sounds of the navigation function or reproduced contents.

The wireless communication interface 933 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-advanced), and performs wireless communication. Wireless communication interface 933 may generally include, for example, BB processor 934 and RF circuitry 935. The BB processor 934 can perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 935 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive a wireless signal via the antenna 937. Wireless communication interface 933 may also be a chip module with BB processor 934 and RF circuitry 935 integrated thereon. As shown in fig. 16, wireless communication interface 933 may include a plurality of BB processors 934 and a plurality of RF circuits 935. Although fig. 16 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 933 includes a plurality of BB processors 934 and a plurality of RF circuits 935, the wireless communication interface 933 may also include a single BB processor 934 or a single RF circuit 935.

Further, the wireless communication interface 933 may support another type of wireless communication scheme, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near field communication scheme, and a wireless LAN scheme, in addition to the cellular communication scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 933 may include a BB processor 934 and RF circuitry 935 for each wireless communication scheme.

Each of the antenna switches 936 switches the connection destination of the antenna 937 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 933 (such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes).

Each of the antennas 937 includes a single or a plurality of antenna elements (such as a plurality of antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna), and is used for the wireless communication interface 933 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in fig. 16, the car navigation device 920 can include a plurality of antennas 937. Although fig. 16 shows an example in which the car navigation device 920 includes a plurality of antennas 937, the car navigation device 920 can also include a single antenna 937.

Further, the car navigation device 920 can include an antenna 937 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 936 may be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device 920.

The battery 938 provides power to the various blocks of the car navigation device 920 shown in fig. 16 via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dashed line in the figure. The battery 938 accumulates electric power supplied from the vehicle.

In the car navigation device 920 shown in fig. 16, the communication unit 103, transceiver of the electronic device 100 may be implemented by a wireless communication interface 933. At least a portion of the functionality may also be implemented by the processor 921. For example, the processor 921 may set a timer by performing functions of the setting unit 101, the control unit 102, and the communication unit 103 to reduce the number of times the UE performs beam measurement result reporting during a time-out period of the timer, and reduce power consumption of the UE.

The techniques of this disclosure may also be implemented as an in-vehicle system (or vehicle) 940 that includes one or more of a car navigation device 920, an in-vehicle network 941, and a vehicle module 942. The vehicle module 942 generates vehicle data (such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fault information) and outputs the generated data to the on-board network 941.

While the basic principles of the present disclosure have been described above in connection with specific embodiments, it should be noted that all or any steps or components of the methods and apparatus of the present disclosure can be understood by those skilled in the art to be implemented in any computing device (including processors, storage media, etc.) or network of computing devices, in hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof, which would be enabled by the basic circuit design knowledge or basic programming skills of those skilled in the art upon reading the description of the present disclosure.

Moreover, the present disclosure also proposes a program product storing machine-readable instruction codes. The instruction code, when read and executed by a machine, may perform the methods described above in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

Accordingly, a storage medium for carrying the above-described program product storing machine-readable instruction codes is also included in the disclosure of the present disclosure. Including but not limited to floppy disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, memory cards, memory sticks, and the like.

In the case of implementing the present disclosure by software or firmware, a program constituting the software is installed from a storage medium or a network to a computer (for example, a general-purpose computer 1700 shown in fig. 17) having a dedicated hardware structure, which can execute various functions or the like when various programs are installed.

In fig. 17, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1701 executes various processes according to a program stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1702 or a program loaded from a storage section 1708 to a Random Access Memory (RAM) 1703. The RAM 1703 also stores data necessary when the CPU 1701 executes various processes and the like as necessary. The CPU 1701, ROM 1702, and RAM 1703 are connected to each other via a bus 1704. An input/output interface 1705 is also connected to the bus 1704.

The following components are connected to the input/output interface 1705: an input portion 1706 (including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like), an output portion 1707 (including a display such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the like, and a speaker, and the like), a storage portion 1708 (including a hard disk, and the like), and a communication portion 1709 (including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, and the like). The communication section 1709 performs communication processing via a network such as the internet. The driver 1710 may also be connected to the input/output interface 1705 as needed. A removable medium 1711 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like is installed on the drive 1710 as needed, so that a computer program read out therefrom is installed into the storage portion 1708 as needed.

In the case of implementing the above-described series of processes by software, a program constituting the software is installed from a network such as the internet or a storage medium such as the removable medium 1711.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that such a storage medium is not limited to the removable medium 1711 shown in fig. 17, in which the program is stored, which is distributed separately from the apparatus to provide the program to the user. Examples of the removable medium 1711 include a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk (registered trademark)), an optical disk (including a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) and a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), a magneto-optical disk (including a Mini Disk (MD) (registered trademark)), and a semiconductor memory. Alternatively, the storage medium may be a ROM 1702, a hard disk contained in the storage section 1708, or the like, in which a program is stored, and distributed to users together with a device containing them.

It is also noted that in the devices, methods, and systems of the present disclosure, components or steps may be disassembled and/or assembled. Such decomposition and/or recombination should be considered equivalent to the present disclosure. Also, the steps of executing the series of processes described above may naturally be executed in chronological order in the order of description, but are not necessarily executed in chronological order. Some steps may be performed in parallel or independently of each other.

Finally, it is also noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article or apparatus that comprises the element.

Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of the present disclosure and not limiting thereof. Various modifications and alterations to the above described embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure is, therefore, indicated only by the appended claims and their equivalents.

The present technology can also be configured as follows.

(1) An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

setting a timer, wherein the timer is used for counting the time when user equipment accesses to a first cell of a non-ground network, and the timing duration of the timer is set based on the predicted service duration of the first cell to the user equipment; and

and compared with the beam measurement result reporting executed after the timer is overtime, the number of the beam measurement result reporting is reduced in the period that the timer is not overtime.

(2) The electronic device of (1), wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to measure only one or more beams corresponding to the first cell during a period in which the timer has not expired.

(3) The electronic device of (2), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: the number of beam measurements is reduced during the timer not timeout compared to beam measurements performed after the timer has timed out.

(4) The electronic device of (2), wherein the processing circuit is configured to interrupt the timing of the timer and trigger a cell handover procedure when the measured beam quality of the first cell is below a predetermined threshold.

(5) The electronic device of (1), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to not perform the beam measurement reporting during a time that the timer has not expired.

(6) The electronic device of (1), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to receive a radio resource control reconfiguration message from a base station of the first cell, the radio resource control reconfiguration message including information of a timing duration of the timer.

(7) The electronic device of (6), wherein in the absence of information of the timing duration of the timer in the radio resource control reconfiguration message, the processing circuitry is configured to deactivate the timer.

(8) The electronic device of (1), wherein the processing circuit is further configured to perform a cell handover operation after the timer expires.

(9) The electronic device of (8), wherein the processing circuitry is configured not to measure beams corresponding to cells through which the user device has passed when performing the cell handover operation.

(10) The electronic device of (8), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to include location information of the user device in a beam measurement report for provision to a base station.

(11) The electronic device of (10), wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to switch to a target cell based on an indication from the base station, the target cell being a cell of candidate cells measured by the user equipment that is capable of operating the user equipment normally and that provides a longest expected service duration.

(12) The electronic device of (11), wherein the target cell is determined by the base station based at least on location information of the user device, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and speed, beam elevation, and cell coverage area.

(13) An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

determining a timing duration of a timer for user equipment based on an estimated service duration of a first cell of a non-terrestrial network to which the user equipment is to be connected to the user equipment; and

and providing the information of the timing duration to the user equipment so that the user equipment uses the timer to time the time from the user equipment accessing the first cell, wherein compared with the beam measurement result reporting executed by the user equipment after the timer is overtime, the user equipment reduces the number of times of the beam measurement result reporting when the timer is not overtime.

(14) The electronic device of (13), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to include information of the timing duration in a radio resource control reconfiguration message to provide to the user equipment.

(15) The electronic device of (14), wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to instruct the user device to deactivate the timer by excluding information of the timing duration in the radio resource control reconfiguration message.

(16) The electronic device of (13), wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine an estimated length of service for which each candidate cell can serve the user device based on location information of the user device, satellite ephemeris information, satellite movement direction and velocity, beam elevation, and cell coverage area.

(17) The electronic device of (16), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to obtain location information of the user device via a beam measurement report of the user device.

(18) The electronic device of (16), wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to obtain beam measurements for the user device and determine that the user device is to be handed over to the first cell based on the beam measurements and the determined estimated service durations for the respective candidate cells.

(19) The electronic device of (18), wherein the first cell is a cell of the candidate cells that enables the user device to function properly and provides a longest expected service duration.

(20) The electronic device of (18), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine cells that the user device has passed according to a direction of movement of the satellite and to configure the user device not to measure beams corresponding to the cells that the user device has passed.

(21) The electronic device of (13), wherein the user device does not perform the beam measurement reporting during the timer not timeout.

(22) The electronic device of (13), wherein the user device measures only one or more beams corresponding to the first cell during the timer not timeout.

(23) A method for wireless communication, comprising:

(24) A method for wireless communication, comprising:

(25) A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method for wireless communication according to (23) or (24).

Claims

1. An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

Processing circuitry configured to:

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to measure only one or more beams corresponding to the first cell during the timer not having expired.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: the number of beam measurements is reduced during the timer not timeout compared to beam measurements performed after the timer has timed out.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured not to perform the beam measurement reporting during the timer not expiration.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to receive a radio resource control reconfiguration message from a base station, the radio resource control reconfiguration message including information of a timing duration of the timer.

6. An electronic device for wireless communication, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to obtain beam measurements for the user device and determine that the user device is to handover to the first cell based on the beam measurements and the determined estimated service durations for the respective candidate cells.

8. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

9. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

10. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method for wireless communication according to claim 8 or 9.